Friday, 4 October 2013

This is the right island, inish?

For once I was in the
elite squad. On the plane, just behind the bandana boys. Slightly fortuitous it
has to be said. I booked the flights to Ireland a couple of months back, little
knowing an Eastern Kingbird would appear the day before the flight. Anyway I
was there. A quick hop over the water, off the plane, pick up the hire car and
away in a screech of wheels. And still
just behind the bandana.

But they must have
caught an earlier ferry as they were nowhere to be seen as we boarded the Happy
Hooker, complete with Bottle-nosed Dolphin riding the bow. After an hour we
were on Inishmore. “Arrh, birders”
said the bike man, adding “It was me that
hired the bike to the guy that found the Kingbird”. Perfect. A sign. A quick check on Birdguides before we peddled
off (other equally expensive info services are available); no sign of the
Eastern Kingbird on Inishbofin. Inish-where?

Birding on Inishmore is
easy. There are basically 3 types of birds there; those with red breasts, those
that are black/grey and go "Karrr",
and rares. Anything that doesn't have a red breast or go “Karrr” is worth a look. But they are hard to find. My first day’s
tally was encouraging: red breasts 2017, Karrrs
234, rares 0. By the end of the trip the
results were only a little better: a couple of Chiffchaffs, a few Wheatears,
two Lapland Bunts, a Yellow-browed Warbler, a Buff-breasted Sandpiper, a Little
Stint, a Med Gull and two Ring-billed Gulls. One evening, after a few pints of Guinness, I
had a thought; if you want to find yanks in a foreign country then the best bet
is probably America.

A grizzled old ecologist/birder, usually to be found roaming around the Lee Valley and occasionally further afield. Fortunate to be involved in the management of some of the UK's finest nature reserves and always looking for ways of improving them for birds.